Well, that ends the proceedings. While Dhoni applied the finishing touches and led Chennai to the top slot, Yuvraj fuelled Bangalore stay afloat in the tournament. Do join us back for tomorrow's double-header as the action rolls along. Cheers for your company. Goodbye and good night.

Yuvraj: "We lost the last game so it was important that we finished well. It was hurting to lose the last game. I was just trying to focus every ball and hold my shape. I started really well, I was batting well in between. I just kept working hard and Dan Vettori and Muralitharan and the seniors in the team believed in me and that belief came out in the last two games. I just wanted to come to a place where I can be myself and play my game. This franchise allows me to do that and I thank Dr. Mallya for believing in me and bringing me all the way here."

Yuvraj Singh is the Man of the Match

Kohli: "Feels amazing actually, really wanted that win badly. We made a few lapses but overall a very good performance. It's important not to panic, the last game we panicked I think at the death. But today I was just asking Chahal and the rest to back themselves. It's really pleasing to see the Yuvi, who is batting right now. Lot of people wrote him off but he's comeback. He's a world-class player till he stops playing this game and everyone should respect that. We just got to take one game at a time, hopefully the results will fall our way."

Pietersen: "That man over there (Yuvraj Singh) batted like an absolute superstar, it's always good to see the good guys doing well. I think we got to build for next season now. I don't think there is any realistic chance that we can get to the play-offs from here. It's just that we got hit badly by Yuvi. It's hard to defend here, I think what we did was right."

Yuvraj smashing 4 sixes off Shulka in the final over en-route to his fifty was the turning point of the match. The Bangalore pacers though have to work on their rhythm if they are to build up some momentum and keep up in the tournament. Do stick around for the presentation ceremony.

Yuvi followed up his blistering 68 with a tidy display with the ball despite not taking wickets. He made his presence felt in the field as well. JP Duminy and KP threatened to take the game away but the Bangalore bowlers picked themselves up tonight. The addition of Muralitharan lent some teeth to the attack while Starc also shone with a couple of wickets.

The DJ belts out the Gagnam, high-fives all around the Bangalore camp. Meanwhile, Delhi's slide shows no signs of abating. It was Yuvraj's big blows, which proved decisive in the end. Bangalore leapfrog Mumbai to sixth place with this win.

19.6

Starc to Rahul Shukla, 1 run, Bangalore win. Virat Kohli is pumped. He has his arms aloft in joy. This was a good length delivery on middle, Shukla looks to flick it to leg, gets a soft leading edge that loops wide of cover

19.5

Starc to Shami, 1 run, very full and hurled in on off, Shami pushes it tamely to mid off

Mohammed Shami, right handed bat, comes to the crease

19.4

Starc to Rahul Shukla, out K Jadhav Run Out!! Starc shortens his length outside off, nothing different from Rahul Shukla - blind swing and a miss. He wants to turn over the strike to Jadhav, the latter backs up and rushes across. PP hits the sticks to catch him short. He should have dived in a bid to return to safety. The attempted scampered bye goes awry. K Jadhav run out (Parthiv Patel) 37(20) [4s-3 6s-2]

Starc to Rahul Shukla, THATS OUT!! Run Out!!

A run-out chance sent upstairs. Jadhav is in some trouble. He looks out. That must be the final nail in Delhi's coffin. OUT flashes on the mega screen as the Bangalore crowd goes bonkers

19.3

Starc to Rahul Shukla, no run, good length delivery angled across, Shukla swings and misses, the ball misses the off-stump by not much

19.2

Starc to K Jadhav, 1 run, Starc misses his length again, pushes it full and outside off, Jadhav carves it square of the wicket on the off-side, only a single results

19.1

Starc to K Jadhav, SIX, what a hit! Starc bowls a cutter outside off, Jadhav camps on the back foot and smashes it over extra-cover, the ball has enough legs to sail into the stands

The equation boils down to 26 runs from the final over. Starc will deliver the last over for Bangalore.

18.6

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, 1 run, mighty full and on middle, Jadhav hangs back and drills it down to long on. He will keep strike

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, no run, Abu Nechim invests in a slower cutter outside off, Jadhav swings but only connects with a whole lot of thin air, he was palpably early into the big blow

18.2

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, FOUR, fine improvisation. This was back of a length and angled across, Jadhav looks to ramp it over, he checks his shot, opens the face of the bat and places it wide of short third man for back to back boundaries

18.1

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, FOUR, streaky but four. Abu Nechim digs it in and gets it to rise onto Jadhav, who rocks back and pulls, he can only top-edge it, the ball is out of the keeper's grasp as well. It runs away to the deep third man fence

17.6

Starc to Rahul Shukla, no run, and a repeat of the previous delivery. Rahul Shukla misses out on the pull. Very pacy and it passes the bat even before Shukla could complete the stroke

17.5

Starc to Rahul Shukla, no run, Starc has a wry smile at Rahul Shukla after he missed the pull shot. Too good for the tailender

Rahul Shukla, right handed bat, comes to the crease

17.4

Starc to Duminy, out Bowled!! Is that the game? Could well be. Starc knocks Duminy over. Angled in, still a length ball, but bowled at pace, it swings in and beats Duminy's swing to leg. The ball hits the top of middle. The umps check for the now mandatory no-ball, but Starc was fine. Relief in the crowd. Duminy b Starc 48(30) [4s-3 6s-3]

Starc to Duminy, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

17.3

Starc to Duminy, FOUR, what a shot that is! Knows Starc will bowl full and wide outside off, he goes down and angles the bat with an open face, intentionally played over point and nearly goes all the way, one bounce over the ropes. The look on Kohli's face says it all.

17.2

Starc to K Jadhav, 1 run, again length from round the wicket, Jadhav smashes it on the up, but Kohli has got the field right, AB at long-off is very wide, more near deep extra, he keeps it to a single

17.1

Starc to Duminy, 1 run, length ball on off, slogged without any timing to deep mid wicket. Lucky that Starc didn't go into the stands

Mitchell Starc [2.0-0-11-1] is back into the attack

16.6

Abu Nechim to Duminy, 1 run, dropped by Gayle at point. Low full toss, sliced in the air and it was evading Gayle, who leapt, got his right-hand, then pushed to his left, and then onto the ground. Three strikes and shelled. The big man has a smile on his face, while Kohli looks disappointed. That could've been the match right there

16.6

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, no ball, 1 run, one has to feel sorry for Abu Nechim. That wasn't a no-ball, but has been called for. Tucker is the ump. At first glance it looked a no-ball, but the low full toss dipped on Jadhav who flicked it down to deep square. Chahal nearly overran the ball, but kept it to a single. Kohli and Nechim aren't happy with that call. They talk to the ump, but the no-ball stays

16.5

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, FOUR, now shoveled wide of mid wicket. Came right off the toe end of the bat, but once it beat mid wicket inside the circle, it was always a boundary

16.4

Abu Nechim to K Jadhav, SIX, this game isn't done yet. That is a flat hit and even Abu Nechim looks stunned with that shot. Full and wide outside off - gave Jadhav the room he needed, he frees his arms and goes over deep extra cover. Duminy too liked that and has a smile on his face

16.3

Abu Nechim to Duminy, leg byes, 1 run, good bowling again. Duminy knows that Abu Nechim will keep bowling full and wide outside off, so he shuffles across to off and tries to scoop, can't make contact and the ball goes off the pads for a leg-bye

16.2

Abu Nechim to Duminy, no run, good comeback from Abu Nechim, bowls the full and wide delivery outside off, Duminy can't get any bat on it. Parthiv applauds from behind the stumps

16.1

Abu Nechim to Duminy, FOUR, from round the wicket and Duminy has hit that straight back over Abu Nechim's head. Full and tailing in, even though Duminy didn't time it so sweetly as he would've liked, it nearly went all the way, one bounce over the ropes

Abu Nechim [2.0-0-9-1] is back into the attack

Timeout!

15.6

Yuvraj to Duminy, 1 run, Yuvraj errs short again, Duminy fails to put it away again. He miscues the pull to deep mid wicket, he may have got it a bit high on his bat, thus foiling his timing. A tidy spell from Yuvi comes to a close

15.5

Yuvraj to K Jadhav, 1 run, floated full outside off, Jadhav eases it to sweeper cover for a single

15.4

Yuvraj to Duminy, 1 run, punched away off the back foot to point

15.3

Yuvraj to Duminy, no run, bottom edge and it nearly shaves the off-stump. Duminy is riding his luck tonight. This was also short, Duminy wants to pull it away, all he manages in an under-edge that evades the stumps, it beats the keeper as well

Yuvraj to K Jadhav, no run, tossed up on off, Jadhav uses his feet and feebly knocks it back to Yuvraj

14.6

Chahal to Duminy, SIX, makes up for the previous delivery, by rocking back and pulling way over deep mid wicket. Went deep into his crease, made the length shorter and muscled it. Good end to the over for Delhi

14.5

Chahal to Duminy, no run, Duminy must be kicking himself for not putting that away. Then has to thank his stars that the cut didn't carry to Yuvi diving forward. Just in front of the man

14.4

Chahal to K Jadhav, 1 run, skidding on on off, Jadhav dabs it down to short third, quick single taken

Chahal to K Jadhav, 1 run, a toe-ended sweep to short fine. Up to Duminy now

14.1

Chahal to K Jadhav, no run, well bowled! Pushes the leggie with a lot of revs, forces Jadhav to defend off the back foot

Yuzvendra Chahal [3.0-0-36-1] is back into the attack

13.6

Yuvraj to Duminy, no run, flatter on the stumps, punched back to Yuvraj

13.5

Yuvraj to Duminy, FOUR, bad ball and that has been put away. Short and wide outside off, Duminy has cut that, beating point's dive to the left. The ball raced away. Imperative for Delhi that Duminy is there till the end, if they have to make a match of it

13.4

Yuvraj to K Jadhav, 1 run, uses his feet and works it to deep mid wicket

13.3

Yuvraj to Duminy, 1 run, driven straight to the fielder at sweeper cover

13.2

Yuvraj to K Jadhav, 1 run, floated outside off, driven past the dive and to the left of Yuvraj

13.1

Yuvraj to Duminy, 1 run, fired in flat on the pads, whipped to deep square

Yuvraj Singh [2.0-0-16-0] is back into the attack

Kedar Jadhav, right handed bat, comes to the crease

12.6

Muralitharan to D Karthik, out Caught by Chahal!! That should've been sent into the stands. Instead Karthik has picked out Chahal. Short and ample time to play the pull over deep mid wicket, but Karthik could only find the man with a weak shot. That brings a smile on Chris Gayle's face. D Karthik c Chahal b Muralitharan 1(2)

Muralitharan to D Karthik, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

12.5

Muralitharan to Duminy, 1 run, rocks back and punches it to sweeper cover, only a single

12.4

Muralitharan to Duminy, 2 runs, goes deep into his crease and whips it to the leg-side, a couple it is

12.3

Muralitharan to D Karthik, 1 run, again funnily Parthiv says 'Murali sir, you'll have to go' after the ball is pushed to his left. Muralitharan can't stop the single

12.2

Muralitharan to Duminy, 1 run, goes back and whips it down to long-on, was in the air, but no-one catching at short mid wicket

12.1

Muralitharan to Duminy, no run, too full to be playing the slog sweep, and predictably Duminy missed the shot, the ball was outside off, so it crept under his bat and didn't hit the stumps

Dinesh Karthik, right handed bat, comes to the crease

11.6

Chahal to Pietersen, out Stumped!! Chahal redeems himself. He has got Pietersen out with a beautiful leggie. Pietersen may have done the wrong thing by stepping out too early, that gave Chahal a chance to pull the length back, Pietersen was aiming for the flick to leg, the ball turned past the outside edge and PP did the rest. Pietersen knew as soon as he missed the shot, that he had made a fatal error. Chahal does a fist pump. Pietersen st Parthiv Patel b Chahal 33(29) [4s-2 6s-1]

Chahal to Pietersen, THATS OUT!! Stumped!!

11.5

Chahal to Duminy, 1 run, now a misfield at point gives away the single. That should've been stopped for it was hit straight to the fielder

11.4

Chahal to Duminy, SIX, poor delivery from Chahal, half-tracker, and Duminy is too good a player to miss out. Goes back and smokes a pull way back into the stands at deep mid wicket. That's the second six off the over

11.3

Chahal to Pietersen, 1 run, dragged down, very short, Pietersen carves it on the bounce to the sweeper, he timed it really well, but pity that he didn't hit the gap

Chahal to Duminy, SIX, Duminy is the man in form and he has nailed that. Picks the googly and deposits down to the long-on fence. Too full from Chahal, that allowed Duminy to go down on one knee and take full toll

Yuzvendra Chahal [2.0-0-21-0] is back into the attack

10.6

Muralitharan to Pietersen, no run, there comes the switch hit from KP, but he hasn't connected at all. Changes his stance and aims for the deep point fence, the ball misses his bat and strikes him on the body. A very optimistic appeal for lbw from Muralitharan is turned down

10.5

Muralitharan to Duminy, 1 run, shortish on off, Duminy goes back and whips it to deep mid wicket, a single taken

10.4

Muralitharan to Pietersen, 1 run, uses his feet and works it to long-on

10.3

Muralitharan to Duminy, 1 run, on the back foot and punched wide of the bowler

10.2

Muralitharan to Duminy, 2 runs, fraction short outside off, Duminy went deep in his crease, cut it away to deep point, brings Chahal into action, who slides and fields. They take two

10.1

Muralitharan to Pietersen, 1 run, that turned in sharply from round the wicket, Pietersen was cramped for room, but managed to force it away to long-off

Muttiah Muralitharan [2.0-0-14-1] is back into the attack

9.6

Abu Nechim to Pietersen, 1 run, full and wide outside off, driven without any timing to sweeper cover, a wicket-taking over comes to an end

9.5

Abu Nechim to Duminy, 1 run, nudged off the pads to short mid wicket, a quick single taken even as Kohli tries to run Duminy out at the bowler's end. The batsman makes it safely though even as the throw misses

9.4

Abu Nechim to Duminy, no run, back of a length on off, defended with an open face to point

9.3

Abu Nechim to Pietersen, 1 run, short of length on off, punched to long-on

Jean-Paul Duminy, left handed bat, comes to the crease

9.2

Abu Nechim to M Agarwal, out Caught by Sachin Rana!! Agarwal has holed out. That has brought the crowd back to life. It swung in on middle, Agarwal wanted to go over long-on, but didn't hit as well as he would've liked to, Rana had to leap a little and takes a good catch going backwards. The stand is broken. M Agarwal c Sachin Rana b Abu Nechim 31(25) [4s-2 6s-2]

Abu Nechim to M Agarwal, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

9.1

Abu Nechim to M Agarwal, no run, short of length outside off, punched hard and timed sweetly, but straight to the fielder at point

Abu Nechim [1.0-0-6-0] is back into the attack

8.6

Yuvraj to Pietersen, no run, nearly a bottom edge through to the keeper. Slower and loopier, it turned after pitching, Pietersen wanted to cut and the slowness of the delivery deceived him

8.5

Yuvraj to M Agarwal, 1 run, punched to sweeper cover, just the single again

8.4

Yuvraj to Pietersen, 1 run, dragged down, Pietersen belts it powerfully, but Starc on the slide at sweeper reels it in

8.3

Yuvraj to Pietersen, FOUR, we saw Yuvraj playing some beautiful extra cover drives, now it's the turn of Pietersen. Uses his long reach and goes over cover. No chance for sweeper. Hit on the up which it made it even better

8.2

Yuvraj to M Agarwal, 1 run, Agarwal looks for the big hit again, as he advances, isn't to the pitch so his attempted mow, results in an inside edge behind square

8.1

Yuvraj to Pietersen, 1 run, punched through cover, rotates the strike over

7.6

Chahal to M Agarwal, no run, Chahal comes back well, drops it short and slows it down too, Agarwal defends off the back foot

7.5

Chahal to M Agarwal, SIX, superb strike! Down the track, to the pitch and a clean strike into the sight-screen. That's how you play the leggie

7.4

Chahal to Pietersen, 1 run, turns this to short mid wicket, takes the single

7.3

Chahal to Pietersen, 2 runs, another fingertip job from Kohli at extra cover. He leapt full length in the air, but could only palm it over. Pietersen beaten in the flight and nearly getting out, but lucky to see the skewed outside edge fly over cover.

7.2

Chahal to Pietersen, 2 runs, pre-meditates a paddle scoop down to fine leg, where Murali runs around to keep it to a couple

7.1

Chahal to Pietersen, no run, how did that miss the off-stump? Pietersen must be thanking his lucky stars that his loose drive didn't produce an outside edge and then that the ball didn't go on to hit off. Lovely leggie fom Chahal, nearly got the wicket

Timeout

6.6

Yuvraj to M Agarwal, no run, slower and drops on Agarwal, who dabs it to point. A loud shout of 'no' from Pietersen to send Agarwal back

6.5

Yuvraj to Pietersen, 1 run, low full toss, driven wide of long-off for a comfortable single

6.4

Yuvraj to Pietersen, SIX, emphatic hit that! Fraction short on off, Pietersen is quick to rock back and smash a pull into the stands at deep mid-wicket. Generated great bat-speed to get the ball all the way over. That should calm him down a bit

6.3

Yuvraj to Pietersen, no run, tossed up on off, Pietersen looks to drive but has to contend with an inside edge onto his pads

6.2

Yuvraj to M Agarwal, 1 run, fraction short and turning away, Agarwal flashes at it with the thickish outside edge skewing to short third man

6.1

Yuvraj to M Agarwal, no run, flatter and skidding on off, Agarwal pushes it to the off-side

Yuvraj Singh, left-arm orthodox, comes into the attack

5.6

Chahal to M Agarwal, 1 run, driven to extra cover for a single

5.5

Chahal to M Agarwal, FOUR, Chahal does not learn from his mistakes as he drags another one short and offers room as well, Agarwal stays back and cuts it away to the sweeper cover boundary

5.4

Chahal to M Agarwal, no run, short and spinning away again, Agarwal lines up for the cut but toe-ends it in front of cover

5.3

Chahal to M Agarwal, no run, turning away outside off, Agarwal looks to cut it away, the ball goes off the outside edge to first slip, where Chris Gayle shells it. Was he a bit late to react? It was unpardonable, for it was a dolly. Kohli is distraught

5.2

Chahal to Pietersen, 1 run, too close to cut, Pietersen still committs to the shot, mishits it to extra cover

5.1

Chahal to Pietersen, FOUR, that's emphatic from KP. Dragged short and outside off, Pietersen camps on the back foot and punches it to the sweeper cover fence. This shot should ease his nerves a bit

Yuzvendra Chahal, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

4.6

Abu Nechim to Pietersen, 1 run, back of a length and just a shade outside off agin, Pietersen does not get into a balanced position to essay the drive, the ball wanders away towards backward square leg off another inside edge

4.5

Abu Nechim to M Agarwal, 1 run, fraction back of a length and wide outside off, Agarwal angles his bat and steers it down to deep third man

4.4

Abu Nechim to Pietersen, 1 run, good length ball homing in on off, Pietersen seeks to cover-drive it but can only inside-edge it onto his pads, the ball ricochets to point

4.3

Abu Nechim to M Agarwal, 1 run, Abu Nechim digs it in and gets this to rise on the batsman, who miscues the pull, the ball balloons into the air but drops into no-man's land wide of mid wicket

4.2

Abu Nechim to Pietersen, 1 run, back of a length and ducking in, Pietersen works it away to mid wicket

Abu Nechim to Pietersen, byes, FOUR, beauty first up from Nechim but bonus runs for Delhi. This was a back of a length ball hurled in close to the off-stump, Pietersen wants to whip it away but no dice, the ball just whizzes over the stumps

Abu Nechim, right-arm medium, comes into the attack

3.6

Starc to Pietersen, 1 run, Starc shortens his length on the stumps, Pietersen pulls it away to deep square leg off the back foot

3.5

Starc to M Agarwal, 1 run, too full and straight, Agarwal clips it away to mid on

3.4

Starc to M Agarwal, FOUR, crunched. This was on a length and outside off, Agarwal drives it over point, the timing was once again excellent

3.3

Starc to Pietersen, 1 run, Top effort from Kohli. It would be very harsh to call it a dropped chance. This was back of a length and outside off, Pietersen drives it on the up, the ball was travelling over extra-cover, where Kohli propels himself upwards, he gets one hand onto the ball but can't hold on. It did not stick

3.2

Starc to Pietersen, no run, pitched up and wide outside off, Pietersen lunges forward and essays a lovely drive but cannot beat extra-cover

3.2

Starc to Pietersen, wide, Starc errs in line as he sprays this one down leg, easy call for the umpire

3.1

Starc to Pietersen, no run, full and pushed across, Pietersen drives but cannot connect it

2.6

Muralitharan to M Agarwal, no run, looped up on off, Agarwal bunts it to the man at cover

2.5

Muralitharan to M Agarwal, no run, flatter and slid outside off, Agarwal looks to cut off the back foot but is beaten. In fact that was a dropped chance. Replays showed that the ball had grazed the bottom edge. Tough chance for Parthiv

2.4

Muralitharan to M Agarwal, SIX, Muralitharan flights this on off, Agarwal lofts it handsomely, clearing long on, it was sheer timing

2.3

Muralitharan to Pietersen, leg byes, 1 run, Pietersen steps out, Murali fires it on the leg-stump, Pietersen plays it off his pads, the ball trickles away to short fine leg

Muralitharan to M Agarwal, no run, tossed up on off, Agarwal taps it in front of point off an open face

Kevin Pietersen, right handed bat, comes to the crease

1.6

Starc to de Kock, out Bowled!! Timber. Bangalore roars and so does Starc. This was a cross-seamer, it jagged back in, de Kock attempts to whip it to the on-side, he can only drag it back onto the leg-stump off a thick inside edge. Delhi find themselves in an early strife at 10-2. de Kock b Starc 6(6) [4s-1]

Starc to de Kock, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

1.5

Starc to de Kock, no run, pitched up and just outside off, de Kock drives neatly but cannot beat extra-cover

1.4

Starc to M Agarwal, 1 run, dipping full toss on the off-stump, Agarwal drives it to extra cover, who fumbles the take, allowing the single to be taken

1.3

Starc to de Kock, 1 run, on the back foot, turns it into the vacant square leg area, a single taken

1.2

Starc to de Kock, no run, back and across before defending solidly to cover

1.1

Starc to M Agarwal, 1 run, Yuvi is everywhere now. Dives to his right at backward point to cut off a certain four. Square driven well, and it needed a dive, a half-stop and that is enough to save three runs

Mitchell Starc, left-arm fast medium, comes into the attack

0.6

Muralitharan to de Kock, FOUR, 'ayyo' shouts Muralitharan after the outside edge eludes the 2nd slip and runs away to the third man fence. Lovely delivery, drew de Kock into the push away from the body, the edge was found, but it didn't go into hand

0.5

Muralitharan to M Agarwal, 1 run, defended to point with an open face, sent back and a needless throw wide of the keeper gives away the extra run. That allows M Agarwal to get off the mark as well

Mayank Agarwal, right handed bat, comes to the crease

0.4

Muralitharan to Vijay, out Lbw!! Vijay is gone. Muralitharan has got a wicket in his first over. Did that pitch in line from round the wicket? Certainly the ump thought so. Vijay went down on one knee to sweep and missed. Replays showed that it did pitch in line and that is a good decision from Tucker. That would've crashed into off and middle. Muralitharan and Kohli are pumped. Vijay lbw b Muralitharan 1(3)

Muralitharan to Vijay, THATS OUT!! Lbw!!

0.3

Muralitharan to de Kock, 1 run, another run-out chance missed! What is happening out there? Muralitharan fails to collect the throw and de Kock was miles out. The throw was on the bounce to the bowler, who fluffed the take. That is two run-outs missed in two balls

0.2

Muralitharan to Vijay, 1 run, a direct hit from Yuvraj and that would've seen Vijay run out. It was pushed towards mid-off, but Yuvi didn't hit direct even as Vijay was struggling

0.1

Muralitharan to Vijay, no run, 'well bowled Murali sir' is the chant from Parthiv behind the stumps as Vijay lunges forward and defends it back to Muralitharan

Vijay and de Kock are at the crease. Vijay is on strike. Muralitharan will open the attack

Interesting sight to see: It's now the turn of Dan Vettori to do all the talking in the Bangalore huddle. Last game it was AB, now it is the coach who is doing the speaking. The players listen intently. No chance to rest my fingers, they are ready to take another pounding. Here come the players. Muralitharan has the ball. Let's go.

Remember, Bangalore's achilles heel has been their bowling as one saw in the last game against Rajasthan. Also this is a ground where anything can be chased. So still this game is far from being over. We will be back shortly for the chase...

The first half of the innings was all about a familiar script that unfolded. Gayle played a cameo, got out, Kohli flopped once more. AB got in and didn't go on to make it count - which is an abnormality. But what is suddenly becoming a predictable thing is to see Yuvi hit the ball out of the stadium. In the last game he hit 7 sixes, today he went two better as he clobbered 9 sixes. Back-to-back fifties and what a sight to see the graceful leftie in full flow. As I mentioned before, there are few better sights in this game than to see him in full flow. Bangalore crowd lapped it all up.

First here is this incredible stat: 71 came off the last four overs. Off which Yuvraj made 58. There were two sets of hat-tricks - a hat-trick of sixes that is as the Punjabi lad from Chandigarh went bonkers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The whole stadium reverberated with chants of 'Yuvi Yuvi' and 'Singh is King, Singh is King'. The Delhi bowling and fielding went to pieces under that massive onslaught and they will have to pick themselves up very quickly to mount a serious challenge in the chase.

19.6

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, no run, heavens! It's a dot ball. Yes. It's a dot ball. Yuvraj doesn't connect with one. Rahul Shukla came back over the wicket and delivered a slower delivery, Yuvraj swung too early and missed the shot. The ball went to the keeper and they don't take a bye. What's more Yuvraj wants another ball to be bowled. He is thinking that there was another ball left. Even the bowler and the umps thought so. But the signal came from the scorers and they ended the innings. As if Yuvraj didn't have enough fun already. 9 sixes and a phenomenal innings which has catapulted Bangalore to 186.

19.5

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, SIX, 4th six off the over and 9th of Yuvraj's innings. Gosh! My fingers are sore. I badly need a break. But the carnage continues. This time a flat six over fine leg. The ball drifted down leg and Yuvraj helped that on its way. Again a pulled shot and he just about got enough on it to clear the fence. What can Rahul Shukla do? Just run in and bowl I guess and hope for the best.

19.5

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, no ball, that is a beamer. Shows that the bowler is under heavy pressure. Yuvraj swings and misses. de Kock fumbles, but they don't take the bye. They thought about it, but Sachin Rana was sent back by Yuvraj

19.4

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, SIX, again a hat-trick of sixes. This one is the change-up - the short delivery, maybe Yuvraj was expecting it, stays back and pulls over the deep mid wicket fielder who was leaping to catch it. Just over the man. What hitting this is.

KP and Rahul Shukla are taking their own time to set the field. A slight delay in play. When Yuvraj is batting like this, pretty much nothing the bowler could do.

19.3

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, SIX, and he is now on song. Picks the slower delivery and goes over cover. A carbon copy of the previous delivery and this one went even further. Superb execution of the lofted extra-cover drive. What will Rahul Shukla do now? He is under serious pressure.

19.2

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, SIX, Yuvraj, take a bow son! That is some way to get to a fifty. Back-to-back for him as well. And look at the celebration - he is making a point to someone by pointing his bat at one specific spot. A trademark Yuvraj lofted drive over cover. What grace and what timing from the man. When the lefties play those strokes, it is a joy to watch.

19.2

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, wide, way outside off, Rahul Shukla failing to replicate Sid Kaul as he sprays it well outside the guideline

19.1

Rahul Shukla to Sachin Rana, 1 run, technically that is a drop catch by de Kock. Sachin Rana swings and looks like it came off his body, but the ump gave it as runs. de Kock diving to his left, can't grab it one-handed. More importantly the strike is with Yuvraj now

Rahul Shukla [3.0-0-14-1] is back into the attack

18.6

S Kaul to Yuvraj, no run, goes back to the tried and tested yorker length delivery, again it is too tight, but since Yuvraj is standing outside his off stump, he reaches out and tries to squeeze it out, misses, that convinces the ump not to call it a wide. A good over from Kaul despite the six

18.5

S Kaul to Yuvraj, SIX, but if you miss your lengths, Yuvraj will put you away. The yorker goes wrong and it turns out to be a full toss, smashed just over the leaping fielder at deep mid wicket. What will S Kaul do now?

18.4

S Kaul to Yuvraj, no run, a tight call and a marginal one for wide, but it goes in favor of the bowler. Yuvraj isn't happy though. He reckons it was a wide. Fired in full and fast, maybe just inside the guideline - I'm not sure though. Anyway that's two dots in a row

18.3

S Kaul to Yuvraj, no run, that could've been a wide had he left it alone. But Yuvraj reached out and patted a low full toss to cover, no chance of a run as the ball went to the fielder

18.2

S Kaul to Sachin Rana, 1 run, tries to slash, but it runs off the outside edge and straight to the fielder at backward point. Single taken though

18.1

S Kaul to Yuvraj, 1 run, what timing on that. Again the Yuvraj version of the helicopter shot. Just belted with no real followthrough, the bat doesn't come up at all, yet he generates tremendous bat-speed to power the ball, but it is straight to the fielder at long-off, so just a single.

18.1

S Kaul to Yuvraj, wide, way outside off, wide called

Siddarth Kaul [3.0-0-28-1] is back into the attack

17.6

Shami to Sachin Rana, FOUR, tries the slower short delivery, Sachin Rana pulls and gets a top-edge that runs away over short fine and beats him to the boundary. The fielder tried to pull it back with a dive, but couldn't. The ball won

17.5

Shami to Sachin Rana, no run, good delivery on the stumps, yorker length on the stumps, pushed back to the bowler who throws the ball back at the batsman in anger

17.4

Shami to Yuvraj, 1 run, just a checked-punch and the ball whistles away to long-on. No real followthrough, just dug it out from under the bat

17.3

Shami to Yuvraj, SIX, that shot is reminiscent of the one he played off Brett Lee in the 2007 World T20 in South Africa. Down leg and full, so that allowed Yuvraj to show his full range, and also to allow his natural followthrough to come out, just a flick and the ball sailed into the second tier. That ball had ice on it as it came down on it's path. Yuvraj is going bonkers at the crease now

17.2

Shami to Sachin Rana, 1 run, does the sensible thing by pushing it towards mid-off, gives the strike back to Yuvraj

Chants of 'Yuvi Yuvi Yuvi' doing the rounds now. What a funny game this is - a week back he was villain No. 1, now he is the most loved man in the whole of Bangalore. And he is not even from Bangalore!

17.1

Shami to Yuvraj, 1 run, stands and pulls the short delivery, but straight to the fielder at deep mid wicket

17.1

Shami to Yuvraj, wide, well outside off and it's not inside the guideline, so a wide called. The idea was right, but the execution wasn't

Mohammed Shami [3.0-0-17-1] is back into the attack

16.6

Tahir to Sachin Rana, 2 runs, on one knee and slogged to deep mid wicket, two it is and it will be Yuvraj on strike

16.5

Tahir to Yuvraj, 1 run, no he can't. Flat and fired in at yorker length outside off, squeezed out to the off-side

16.4

Tahir to Yuvraj, SIX, Yuvraj has hit three in a row and that has caused the Bangalore crowd to go mental. They are howling like wild dogs in the night. What a strike that is. Picks the tossed up delivery from outside off and goes through with the lofted hit over long-off. What a followthrough as well, when he hits them, there is no better striker of a Cricket ball in the world than this man. Can he make it 5 in a row? A slight delay as Tahir who is under pressure, adjusts his field

16.3

Tahir to Yuvraj, SIX, unbelievable inside out hit. That is Yuvraj at his very best. Reached out and played the lofted drive over cover. The ball kept sailing. The Bangalore crowd go nuts.

16.2

Tahir to Yuvraj, SIX, Smashed! Picks the not-so-short delivery on the stumps and times the pull way over square leg. That is a clean hit

16.1

Tahir to Yuvraj, no run, skids on flat and fast, on the stumps, Yuvraj respects it with a defence

Imran Tahir [3.0-0-27-0] is back into the attack

15.6

Rahul Shukla to Sachin Rana, no run, was that sliding down leg? Could well be. Sachin Rana shuffled across a tad and missed the flick, the ump negated the appeal and Rahul Shukla's huge appeal was turned down. Interesting to see the bowler apologise to the ump for appealing after taking his cap. Very interesting one must say

15.5

Rahul Shukla to Sachin Rana, 2 runs, Jadhav did well there. He had a fair lot of work to do, running to his left, he put in the dive, stopped the ball, but his one foot was outside as he tried to pick it up, realised that he cannot do that, brings that foot back in and then picks up the ball - smart I must say - only a couple results as a result.

15.4

Rahul Shukla to Sachin Rana, 2 runs, low full toss, whipped wide of short mid wicket, Duminy at wide long-on keeps it to a couple

15.3

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, 1 run, Yuvraj is aiming for the big hits into the leg-side, but he doesn't get under the delivery, an inside-edge onto the leg and the ball runs down to short fine

15.2

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, no run, how many times have we seen the free-hit end up as a dot. Completely deceives Yuvraj with a cutter, the batsman into the slog way too early and the ball turns away from the bat. de Kock likes it too

15.2

Rahul Shukla to Yuvraj, no ball, Rahul Shukla makes the cardinal sin of overstepping as he searches for extra pace. Free-hit coming up now

15.1

Rahul Shukla to Sachin Rana, 1 run, uses his feet and drives it down to sweeper cover

Rahul Shukla [2.0-0-7-1] is back into the attack

14.6

S Kaul to Sachin Rana, 1 run, is off the mark with a single square of the wicket, played the back foot punch

14.5

S Kaul to Sachin Rana, no run, make that three dots in a row and the pressure is building on Bangalore. A lazy attempt to run one down to third man and Sachin Rana doesn't make contact

14.4

S Kaul to Sachin Rana, no run, tries to punch on-the-up, but inside-edges it back towards the bowler

14.3

S Kaul to Sachin Rana, no run, driven on the up, straight to the fielder at cover

Sachin Rana, right handed bat, comes to the crease

14.2

S Kaul to de Villiers, out Bowled!! Kaul roars. And why should he not. He has just bowled out the world's best batsman. How much will that cost Bangalore? I would say a fair lot. de Villiers tried to slog across the line, the balance wasn't there, the shape too and that resulted in the ball creeping under the bat and hitting the top of off. Kaul does a fist pump. de Villiers b S Kaul 33(17) [4s-4 6s-1]

S Kaul to de Villiers, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

14.1

S Kaul to de Villiers, FOUR, I said Delhi's fielding has gone to pieces of-late and this is another example. A cracking drive on the up is hit straight to the fielder - who is KP at cover - and he allows the ball to go under his body even as he dived to prevent it. de Villiers gets a bonus boundary.

Siddarth Kaul [2.0-0-23-0] is back into the attack

13.6

Tahir to Yuvraj, 2 runs, belted wide of long-off, JPD is on the slide and can't prevent the two

13.5

Tahir to Yuvraj, 2 runs, Yuvraj has made it, beating the direct hit from the deep. Flicks it to deep mid wicket and wants the 2nd, does the smart thing by running hard and employing a full length stretch that ensures he made it

13.4

Tahir to Yuvraj, no run, comes down the track and nearly yorks himself, squeezes it out in the end to cover

13.3

Tahir to Yuvraj, no run, flat and fired in outside off, Yuvraj cuts and misses

13.2

Tahir to Yuvraj, FOUR, 'catch' was the cry of anguish from Tahir, but the outside edge flies over KP's head at point and runs away to the fence, beating the chasing fielder. Tahir isn't impressed at all. The Bangalore cheergirls make funny faces at the fielder after the ball rolled away past the rope. I for one wouldn't be impressed if someone did that to me on the field.

13.1

Tahir to Yuvraj, no run, tossed up outside off, driven firmly to cover, a good stop by DK and that stung his hands

Imran Tahir [2.0-0-19-0] is back into the attack

Timeout

12.6

Shami to de Villiers, no run, short of length outside off, punched right back to Shami

12.5

Shami to de Villiers, no run, yorker length outside off, de Villiers tries to dab it down to the off-side and misses

12.4

Shami to Yuvraj, 1 run, low full toss on the stumps, flicked to deep backward square leg with a shuffle across his stumps. If he had missed that, he would've been dead

Yuvraj Singh, left handed bat, comes to the crease

12.3

Shami to Parthiv Patel, out Caught by D Karthik!! Parthiv Patel has got out to what one should call a confused shot. He was in two minds on what shot he should be playing, when the shortish slower delivery arrived outside off, he ended up playing a half-hearted slice in the air, the ball was going over his head at point, but DK jumped and took a smart catch. That is a wicket Delhi badly wanted to check the momentum that Bangalore was building up. Parthiv Patel c D Karthik b Shami 29(28) [4s-4]

Shami to Parthiv Patel, 1 run, lofted to long-on, but Duminy is there to keep it to a single

Mohammed Shami [2.0-0-14-0] is back into the attack

11.6

S Kaul to de Villiers, FOUR, suddenly in the space of three balls the Delhi fielding has gone to pieces. Now Shukla is the man at long-off who is the culprit. A flat skimmy lofted drive from de Villiers, once Shukla allowed the ball to bounce in front of him, without getting his body behind it, it was always a recipe for disaster, the ball doesn't even touch his fingers and rushes under the hands to the fence. He didn't even attack the ball, in trying to catch that. Just stood there and tried to stop it, and made a right royal mess of it. de Villiers has just upped another gear

11.5

S Kaul to de Villiers, SIX, Bang! Picks the back-of-the-hand slower delivery and muscles a flat pull over deep mid wicket. A mini six if one may call it that way

11.4

S Kaul to de Villiers, FOUR, Kaul isn't happy with Vijay who has let it go through right under his hands. It was a full toss outside off, de Villiers sliced it, Vijay slid to his right at sweeper, went down too quickly, the ball came on slowly and eluded his grasp to go away to the fence. Vijay seems to suggest that the ball skidded on with the dew

S Kaul to Parthiv Patel, 2 runs, good work from Shukla at long-on, the ball was travelling at a great pace after Parthiv Patel pulled from the crease, Shukla had to be quick, was and fielded it cleanly, up in a flash and fires in a bullet throw again. He seems to be an athlete this man

11.1

S Kaul to de Villiers, 1 run, tries to cut hard into the off-side, mistimes it completely

Siddarth Kaul [1.0-0-5-0] is back into the attack

10.6

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, FOUR, short and asking to be hit, sat up to be pulled and Parthiv Patel did just that beating deep square to his right. Placed the shot really well

10.5

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, 2 runs, driven all along the carpet towards long-off and this time Kaul can stop it cleanly, but can't prevent the double

10.4

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, FOUR, Sid Kaul is shaking his head after failing to beat that firm lofted drive at long-off. He dived, but the ball beat him to the fence. Too well-timed for Kaul to do anything. The ball just skidded off the turf.

10.3

Tahir to de Villiers, 1 run, low full toss, de Villiers reaches out and bunts it down to long-on

10.2

Tahir to de Villiers, 2 runs, shortish and outside off, cut off the back foot between extra cover and long off, placed in the gap, two runs it is

10.1

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, 1 run, if DK had picked it up cleanly at cover, there might have been a chance of a run out. He didn't and that allowed the batsmen to reach their ends safely

9.6

Duminy to de Villiers, FOUR, super shot. Though it was fraction short outside off, de Villiers' quick feet meant that he was back in a flash, cut it hard and beats deep extra cover to the fence. The ball had too much timing on that

9.5

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, leg byes, 1 run, once again Parthiv Patel can't connect with the flick after advancing, another leg-bye taken

9.4

Duminy to de Villiers, 1 run, tries to slap it hard on the off-side, the bottom edge rolls behind the keeper for a single

9.3

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, leg byes, 1 run, Duminy follows Parthiv Patel, into the body and the batsman can't connect with the flick. Off the pad and a leg-bye

9.2

Duminy to de Villiers, 1 run, again advances and flicks to deep mid wicket, just the single this time

9.1

Duminy to de Villiers, 2 runs, chips out and flicks the low full toss to deep mid wicket

Jean-Paul Duminy [3.0-0-17-0] is back into the attack

8.6

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, no run, tries to force it off the back foot and mistimes the cut into the off-side

8.5

Tahir to de Villiers, 1 run, reaches out and slaps a drive to long-off

8.4

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, 1 leg byes, huge shout for lbw and Tahir is literally begging the umpire to give it out. Tucker is the umpire and he is telling Tahir that since the bowler is in his way when he is delivering the ball, he cannot see a thing. Fair enough too. Coming back to the lbw appeal, it pitched outside leg, so no chance of that being given even as Parthiv Patel missed the sweep

8.3

Tahir to Parthiv Patel, 2 runs, well played. Goes back and late-cuts it wide of short third, Jadhav reels it in

8.2

Tahir to de Villiers, 1 run, gently works this towards square leg, there was a chance of another run out as de Kock runs to pick it up, Parthiv Patel was struggling a bit, the throw from the keeper was wide and that allowed Patel to survive

AB de Villiers, right handed bat, comes to the crease

8.1

Tahir to Kohli, out Kohli Run Out!! 1 run completed. What has Kohli done here? First things first, he nearly dragged a low full toss back on, the ball evaded leg-stump and ran down to fine leg. It was a two but Kohli was a bit slow in turning back for the second, and coupled to that fact was a bullet throw from Shukla right over the bails. Still Kohli could've made it with a dive, he doesn't, tries to stretch and get his bat over the line, but can't drag it over. What's that old Cricket saying: never take on a fast bowler's arm and Kohli has just done that, and paid the price. Kohli run out (Rahul Shukla/de Kock) 10(11)

Tahir to Kohli, THATS OUT!! Run Out!!

Third ump called for. Has Kohli run himself out? It was played to fine leg. He is out! That's lazy running. Should have made it, but cannot beat the fine throw from Rahul Shukla. When it is not going your way, you can be out in so many ways and this one is one of the worst ways to get out. Running yourself out. And that leads us to the timeout as well.

Imran Tahir, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

7.6

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, 1 run, gently dabs this in front of cover-point and takes the single to keep strike

7.5

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, 2 runs, beautiful shot now after all the struggle early on. Gets forward and drives on the rise, beats a diving cover, but cannot get it past sweeper, a couple of runs taken though

7.4

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, 2 runs, once again the bat turned in the hand as the flick runs away to deep mid wicket, not well-timed at all.

7.3

Rahul Shukla to Parthiv Patel, leg byes, 1 run, down leg and on the pads, Parthiv Patel fails to capitalise, they take a leg-bye though

7.2

Rahul Shukla to Parthiv Patel, no run, beautiful bowling. Bamboozled the batsman with a slower ball, Parthiv Patel was early into the push and the ball went under his bat through to the keeper. This Rahul Shukla looks impressive

7.1

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, 1 run, back of a length outside off, Kohli opens the face of the bat and runs it down to third man. Used the pace on that delivery well that time

6.6

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, no run, bad delivery - well down leg - and Parthiv Patel has found KP at short fine inside the ring. That delivery had 4 written on it, but Duminy is lucky that it turned out to be a dot

6.5

Duminy to Kohli, 1 run, now Kohli's work to leg produces a leading edge, but the ball goes safely through the off-side field. Kohli is really struggling and that is showing in his batting

6.4

Duminy to Kohli, no run, floated outside off, inviting Kohli to drive through cover, but the bat turns and all he can do is skew a drive back to Duminy

6.3

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, 1 run, takes it from outside off and sweeps it to backward square leg

6.2

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, no run, nearly the outside edge carries to short third. Parthiv Patel tries to go over cover, but the turn on that delivery takes the edge, luckily it didn't carry

6.1

Duminy to Kohli, 1 run, gets forward and drives down to long-on

Jean-Paul Duminy [2.0-0-14-0] is back into the attack

5.6

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, 1 run, back of a length outside off, though it was bouncing, Kohli adjusted well and dabbed it down with soft hands to third man, is off the mark

5.5

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, no run, short of length outside off, a compact back foot defence from Kohli into the off-side

Chants of 'Kohli Kohli Kohli' do the rounds at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Kohli needs a score and a big one at that. He is not in the best of nicks, having been dismissed for three ducks in the tournament this season. Will tonight be his night though?

5.4

Rahul Shukla to Kohli, no run, Kohli shoulders arms to an outie

Virat Kohli, right handed bat, comes to the crease

5.3

Rahul Shukla to Gayle, out Bowled!! Bowled 'im. The leg-stump goes cartwheeling and Rahul Shukla is jubilant. Gayle has flattered to deceive the capacity Bangalore crowd. He charged Shukla and tried to hit him to the nearby Cubbon Park, but turns back to see the inside edge smash the leg-stump out of the ground. That is a big wicket and that itself is an understatement. The crowd are stunned into silence. Gayle b Rahul Shukla 22(23) [4s-1 6s-2]

Rahul Shukla to Gayle, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

5.2

Rahul Shukla to Gayle, no run, turned straight to the fielder at square leg, no chance of a quick single

Now Rahul Shukla has decided to come round the wicket, he has had enough of over the wicket tactics after just one delivery

5.1

Rahul Shukla to Gayle, no run, full and outside off, a half-volley, but Gayle has crashed that straight to the fielder at cover

Rahul Shukla, right-arm medium, comes into the attack

4.6

S Kaul to Parthiv Patel, FOUR, that's a gift which Parthiv Patel has encashed on. Low full toss on middle, flicked away to the deep mid wicket fence. Even though the fielder was there, there was no way he was going to stop that as the ball raced away on the slick outfield

4.5

S Kaul to Parthiv Patel, no run, tries to dab to the off-side and cannot find the gap. Mistimed completely

4.4

S Kaul to Gayle, 1 run, high full toss, so nearly a no-ball for height, Gayle is surprised, bunts it down to long-on, he took one hand off the bat handle as he played it. The umps reckon it to be a fair delivery

4.3

S Kaul to Gayle, no run, good thinking! Bowled the fast yorker length delivery outside off, just inside the guideline after he saw Gayle charging. That's 3 dots in a row and as one famous commie would say: "Something gotta give". You guess who the famous commie is - a clue; he is world famous by the way

4.2

S Kaul to Gayle, no run, so nearly dragged on. Gayle was beaten for pace and was late on the defensive shot, but luckily the inside edge onto the pads saved him

4.1

S Kaul to Gayle, no run, short of length on off, defended with an open face to point

Siddarth Kaul, right-arm medium, comes into the attack

3.6

Shami to Parthiv Patel, FOUR, cracking drive on the up. Just leant forward and drove the full and wide delivery to the deep cover fence. Beat the infield easily

KP and Shami have a chat. Tinkering with the field is the Englishman or should we call him a South African now, since he isn't wanted by the English anymore. Time for you guys to ponder that thought as we get ready for more action.

3.5

Shami to Parthiv Patel, no run, Parthiv Patel tries to do a Gayle and fails miserably. Skips down and tries to hoick across the line, the ball stops a bit and goes over the stumps, after beating the bat

3.4

Shami to Gayle, 1 run, looked like the slower delivery, it was one as well, nudged softly into the mid wicket area

3.3

Shami to Gayle, no run, well bowled! Gayle acknowledges the good delivery - which is a yorker on middle - by nodding at Shami. Gayle did well to dig it out

3.2

Shami to Parthiv Patel, 1 run, wristed wide of mid wicket for an easy single

3.1

Shami to Parthiv Patel, no run, Parthiv Patel inside-edges the defence near his feet, wants the quick single, but Gayle is having none of it

Gayle is intent on attack tonight and if Delhi don't get him out quickly, the game could slip away from their hands very quickly

2.6

Duminy to Gayle, 2 runs, makes room and punches it wide of the diving extra cover, Vijay from mid-off slides to prevent the boundary.

2.5

Duminy to Gayle, no run, down leg, Gayle cannot connect with the sweep, off the pad and they don't take the leg-bye

Now Duminy has decided to come over the wicket

2.4

Duminy to Gayle, FOUR, Gayle is attacking Duminy. This wasn't well-timed, but it doesn't matter. Again advances and drags the big hit wide of the diving man at mid wicket, was in the air, but no danger of being caught. The crowd are chanting the franchise name repeatedly

2.3

Duminy to Gayle, SIX, Gayle has got going and this will be worrying signs for Delhi. Down the track in a flash and a beautiful lofted shot over long-on. A huge six too as the ball lands in the crowd

2.2

Duminy to Gayle, no run, tossed up on off, Gayle pushes it back to Duminy

2.1

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, 1 run, leans forward and drives on the rise to wide long-off

1.6

Shami to Gayle, SIX, there goes Gayle. Charges Shami and heaves it over the man at deep mid wicket. The fielder thought he was in with a chance, but the flat hit went over his head

1.5

Shami to Parthiv Patel, 1 run, turned to the right of Tahir at short fine, who does well to keep it to a single. Parthiv Patel though feels he has missed out, isn't happy with himself at all

1.4

Shami to Gayle, 1 run, Shami does well by dragging his length back, he saw Gayle advancing and dropped it short, the big man inside-edges a pull onto the body, Parthiv Patel calls him through for the quick single

1.3

Shami to Gayle, no run, fullish and on the stumps, Gayle gets forward to defend with bat and pad close together

1.2

Shami to Gayle, no run, beaten for pace that time. Gayle lazily wafting across the line to a ball angled across him, it was well outside off and the ball goes under the bat. That could so nearly have been dragged back on

1.1

Shami to Gayle, no run, short of length outside off, Gayle defends off the back foot

Mohammed Shami, right-arm fast medium, comes into the attack

0.6

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, no run, tossed up outside off, driven to cover

0.5

Duminy to Parthiv Patel, no run, nearly a leading edge. That turned across Parthiv Patel who was trying to close the face of the bat, the ball though dies down back to the bowler

0.4

Duminy to Gayle, 1 run, full and on the stumps, turned wide of mid wicket, an easy single and he is off the mark, that draws huge cheers from the crowd

0.3

Duminy to Gayle, no run, floated on middle, Gayle lunges forward and defends it back to Duminy

0.2

Duminy to Gayle, no run, punched to the left of the bowler who stops it. That was a good stop as the ball was travelling

0.1

Duminy to Gayle, no run, from round the wicket and Gayle cautiously defends off the back foot into the covers

Gayle and Parthiv Patel are at the crease. Gayle is on strike. Duminy will open the attack

An interesting thing to see in the Delhi huddle was that JP Duminy was the one who was doing the talking. KP wasn't doing any. It happened with Bangalore in the last game as well, when AB did the talking and Virat was silent. Anyway the openers walk out and it will be Gayle and Parthiv. So Kohli's move to open lasted just one match. That has been shelved. A raucous atmosphere as the game is about to begin. Here we go.

Pietersen: "We are going to have a bowl. It is indeed because of the rain. We have got close on many occasions. We cannot blame anybody and do the process right. We have one change with Vijay coming in for Laxmi (Shukla)."

Kohli: "We would have liked to bowl as well. Looks like a slow track, we will have to get the total out of the way. There is a rain forecast later too. We have to take one game at a time and not look at the play-offs. It is important to focus on the process. We have 3 changes with Muralitharan coming in for Albie. Sachin Rana replaces Aaron and Abu Nechim comes in for Dinda."

The covers are being removed now. Toss will happen at 8:50pm local time and we can get a full game in provided the match starts before 9:10pm local time. The overs will start getting reduced only when the time goes past 9:10 local, if the match has not started by then. So great news and we will hopefully have the toss soon.

Scratch that! The rain has picked up and the covers are brought on again. Muralitharan is seen talking to Kohli who is listening intently. Looking at those pictures, we could be in for quite a delay. It's frustrating I know, but all one can hope and pray for is for the rain to stop, so that we could get a game in.

Some good news, the covers are coming off as the intensity of the rain has lessened. So do stay tuned for further updates.

Still no news of when the toss will happen. It's still drizzling as I type this. No news on Chris Gayle as yet. We will have all the updates as soon as we have it. It's a patience game - when all these rain breaks happen. Do stay tuned.

Some good news, folks. The covers are coming off at the ground.

Toss, teams and much more coming your way shortly. Oops, the news coming is that the covers are on at Bangalore.

Their opponents for tonight, Delhi are all but out of the tournament with a paltry 2 wins in 9 attempts. It's the battle of the bottom-dwellers in the second match of the double-header tonight. Chris Gayle injured himself whilst diving at backward point against Rajasthan. Is he fit and ready?

Have Bangalore recovered from the hangover against Rajasthan? Yuvraj Singh roared back to form, lighting up an all-round show but his thunder was stolen by the Aussie duo of James Faulkner and Steve Smith. Unless Bangalore plug the loopholes in their bowling they will continue to sink further. After being guilty of dropping their guard down at crucial junctures, Bangalore find themselves on the brink of treating every game as a near must-win encounter. With their pacers not learning from their profligacy will Muralitharan or Jakati get a look in?

Preview by Gokul Gopal

Despite another top-order failure, Royal Challengers Bangalore finally managed to post a big total in their last game. However, even that was not enough as Steven Smith and James Faulkner came up with superb knocks to help Rajasthan Royals pull off a stunning chase. The equation now is pretty simple for the Virat Kohli-led side - try to win all their remaining five matches to stay in contention for a place in the play-offs. The team in red will be up against Delhi Daredevils, who are almost out of the play-offs race, having lost 7 of their nine matches so far. The Kevin Pietersen-led team, before bowing out, will be keen to have a few more wins against their name, starting with this game, and possibly play spoilsport to some of the teams battling to occupy spots in the top 4.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

While they started their campaign well with back-to-back victories in the UAE, things have gone downhill for RCB, who have won just 3 of their nine games. Even at the Chinnaswamy stadium, where they had done well previously, the home team has faltered in this season and are on the verge of being knocked out of the competition. Top-order failures have hurt the team badly in IPL 2014 as the likes of Chris Gayle, Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli have been unable to come up with anything substantial. Even in their last match against Rajasthan, the top-order let the team down, but RCB managed to post a formidable total of 190/5, thanks to the efforts of Yuvraj Singh and AB de Villiers. The skipper, who has been struggling for runs, will be eager to come up with a special effort while he will be hoping for the rest of the batters to fire again.

While the Royal Challengers' bowlers were impressive in the UAE leg of the tournament, that have been completely the opposite since coming to India. The likes of Ashoke Dinda, Varun Aaron and Mitchell Starc have gone for plenty in recent games, which has compounded RCB's sorrows. Albie Morkel too has not done much, be it with the bat or the ball, and neither has Harshad Patel. The only bowler who has performed consistently well is Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been the team's stand-out performer with 11 wickets at an average of 18.90 and a superb economy of 5.94. RCB will be hoping that he delivers again while the team in red will want the rest of the bowlers to pull up their socks and put on a disciplined showing.

Delhi Daredevils:

They are currently at the bottom of the table and the reason they are there is because both the batting and the bowling units have been completely below par. JP Duminy, who started off with consecutive fifties, has done a decent job batting in the middle order while Kedhar Jadhav, dismissed only once in his five outings so far, has not done badly either. However, the rest of the batters have failing on a consistent basis, which has hurt Delhi. Kevin Pietersen and Quinton de Kock have not lived up to their reputation while Murali Vijay has not been able to convert his starts. The team's costliest buy, Dinesh Karthik too failed on multiple occasions, although he has shown some improvement of late. Delhi have a lot of powerful hitters in the team, but their exuberance has led to their downfall several times. KP and the lot will be eager to come up with a better performance and give their fans something to cheer about.

Nathan Coulter-Nile's injury seems to have hurt the seam bowling department hard as the quick bowlers in the DD line-up have hardly done anything noteworthy. Wayne Parnell has been economical but has not picked up too many wickets, Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat have conceded a lot, while Laxmi Ratan Shukla has also been below par. Even the spin department has been bad as Rahul Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem have had a few expensive outings. Imran Tahir's inclusion was not much of a factor is their rain-curtailed game against Sunrisers Hyderabad but Delhi will be hoping that South Africa's best bowler in the T20 World Cup, delivers for the Daredevils while they will also expect the rest of the bowlers to come up with a better effort.

Head to head:

Both teams have played against each other in 12 matches so far. Bangalore have a win percentage of 54.16, having won 6 games against Delhi. In their previous meeting at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, RCB eased past DD's total with Yuvraj and Kohli starring with the bat.

Team News:

Chris Gayle suffered a shoulder injury in the match against Rajasthan and might miss this game. Bangalore are likely to bring in Rilee Russow in case the Jamaican does not recover in time, although it would not hurt them to include Ravi Rampaul to boost their bowling attack. Considering Dinda's expensive outings in recent games, Bangalore might also be tempted to try out left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati, who is yet to play a game. Meanwhile, Delhi are unlikely to make any changes unless they are keen to test their bench.

Quotes:

We have the potential to win, but we are not thinking of four or five games at a time, but take game one by one as it comes: Yuvraj Singh.

If we can improve by five percent in every aspect of our game, we will be really close to doing something special: Wayne Parnell.